A Piece of Mars: The long meandering lines snaking across the image (3.2×1.8 km or 2×1.1 mi across) are inverted channels. They are river deposits that once were the lowest part of the landscape (rivers always are), but then the […]

Today is December 21, 2015 (northern winter and southern summer solstice on Earth). On Mars it is Ls = 84º, Mars Year 33 (about 12 sols from northern summer and southern winter solstice on Mars). It is sol 1200 of […]

Sorry for the pun in the title there, but NASA asked for it by naming their rover like that. And you’ve seen it done a hundred times, so let’s grit our teeth, smile, and carry on. Anyway. So I’m more […]

A piece of Mars: This 480×270 m (0.3×0.17 mi) area is a steep slope that plunges down to the upper left. A pile of dark sand, covered by brighter tan dust, clings to the hillside. Usually the martian wind blows […]

A Piece of Mars: This 0.96×0.54 km (0.6×0.33 mi) area shows ripples forming on a layer of dark gray material. In a few spots, the gray layer has been eroded away (probably by wind scour), revealing the lighter, tan-colored terrain […]

A Piece of Mars: This 480×270 m (1575×886 ft) area shows a seemingly endless field of ripples. They’re big, about 50 m (164 ft) from crest to crest, and probably about 5 m (16 ft) high. Is there a knit […]

A Piece of Mars: These “peas-in-a-pod” are dunes covered in long ripples (the scene is 960×480 m, or 0.6×0.3 mi). They’re a bit odd, surrounded by a rippled apron. It reminds me of melted-looking dunes that are common in high […]